Heather Joy Zar

This study identifies immune-related gene expression differences in paediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 compared to other lower respiratory tract infections.

Across 15 cohorts (birth to 24 years), 20 epigenetic clocks and eight brain age models predicted chronological age modestly, stabilizing by middle childhood; their age residuals were weakly associated.

This study examines cytokine profiles in HIV-exposed and unexposed children and their mothers, finding persistent immune alterations in HEU children linked to maternal HIV.

This study examines neuroimmune changes in HIV-exposed uninfected children and links them to language development using a South African cohort.

The paper identifies age-dependent methylation quantitative trait loci (longitudinal mQTLs) across the lifespan using blood DNAm data from two cohorts, finding consistent genotype-by-age effects and associations with multiple phenotypes.

This study identifies a shared genetic factor underlying brain age gaps across 30 cohorts, finding 19 SNPs and associations with health traits.

The paper examines associations between maternal and child immune profiles and neurometabolite measures of neuroinflammation in HIV-exposed uninfected and HIV-unexposed children.

This study identifies cell type-specific DNA methylation associations with childhood ADHD symptoms using deconvolution and sequencing-based methylation data from peripheral and cord blood.

This study characterizes Ornithobacterium hominis colonization dynamics in a South African birth cohort, revealing its microbiome interactions and genetic features.

The paper develops a cgMLST scheme and LIN code system to classify Moraxella catarrhalis lineages, revealing two divergent seroresistant and serosensitive lineages with distinct genetic and virulence characteristics.

This study uses longitudinal meta-regression to examine how DNA methylation effects on child health outcomes vary by timing, finding larger effects in childhood but noisier associations and time-specific signals.

This study characterizes serotype 16F Streptococcus pneumoniae lineages and antimicrobial resistance in South African infants and globally, finding associations with disease and resistance.

The paper introduces a pruning and thresholding method for methylation risk scores to improve prediction across multi-ancestry populations, showing better performance than simple thresholding.

This paper conducts a multi-ancestry GWAS of major depression, identifying 190 loci and 354 genes, with findings showing increased fine-mapping power and bidirectional BMI relationship in European ancestry samples.

This study evaluates the generalizability of polygenic scores in African populations, finding that PRS accuracy varies significantly across African ancestries and is improved by using ancestrally diverse genetic studies.

This study examines how maternal prenatal stressors and distress relate to infant and maternal faecal bacterial profiles in a South African cohort.

The paper examines how genetic and environmental factors influence DNA methylation at variably methylated regions in neonatal blood, finding that combined effects best explain methylation variability.

The paper identifies gene expression signatures in cord blood linked to maternal psychological distress and adverse childhood outcomes, revealing molecular pathways associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.